Road to You
by Tachibana Natsu
Summary: All his life was a road that led to her. All the sorrow and pain no longer mattered, because he was happy now with her by his side. ((Gaaraxfem!Naruto)) ((Alive!Minato)) ((Picture Isn't Mine))
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 – First Meeting**

**Ages: Naru-12 Gaara-12**

**Arc: Chunin Exams**

**Inspiration****: Road to You by Five for Fighting/Little Things by One Direction**

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><p>Naru glared at the strange boy in the cat suit. It had been rather peaceful; the red head had been on her way back from the Hokage Tower after talking with her father when Udon and Moegi had run up to her in tears explaining that a strange boy was threatening Konohamaru.<p>

"Please release him." Naru spoke, staring coldly at the older boy. By his hitai-ate she could tell he was a Suna genin here for the Chunin Exam. "You are threatening a citizen of Konohagakure. If you continue to do so I will have no choice but to report you to the Hokage, and you and your team will be disqualified from the Chunin Exam and taken back to your village." The blonde girl beside the cat suit boy stiffened,

"Just release the brat, Kankuro." She spoke, 'Kankuro' paused before 'tsk'ing and dropping Konohamaru, who instantly ran to Naru and hid behind her, she shooed him and his friends away before turning back to the genin.

"Thank you. Now I would like to ask you, and your team-mates for your names, including the one in the tree." She nodded towards said tree and in a flurry of sand and boy about her age with messy auburn hair stood in front of her.

"G-Gaara!" The two other Suna genin spluttered in alarm, stiffening.

"I apologize for the stupidity of my siblings." Gaara said, eyeing her with sea-green eyes... A pretty colour... Naru mused as her bright blue eyes met his and the two red-head stared each other down. "I am Sabaku no Gaara, these are my siblings Temari and Kankuro." Naru bowed,

"Namikaze Naru, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Gaara-san." She offers him a kind and polite smile. Gaara studied her,

"You are quite odd, Namikaze Naru." He stated. Said girl only laughed quietly,

"I get that a lot."

"You are like me." Gaara said suddenly, causing his siblings to pale. "And yet at the same time you are not." Naru nodded, before gesturing for him to follow,

"Let's walk, and talk for a while. I'll show you around the Village." Gaara hesitated for only a moment before following,

"Temari, Kankuro. Go back to the hotel." Was all he said to his older siblings as they walked away.

**LINE BREAK LINE BREAK LINE BREAK**

Gaara stared at the girl as they walked; she was pretty with long red hair, porcelain skin and bright blue eyes, short is size (even shorted then he was, and he was pretty short), but she had the air of a trained kunoichi. Even though she was wearing a simple orange sleeveless top and dark grey shorts that ended at her knees, she was one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen.

"Who are you?" He questioned, surely this girl was different. She didn't flinch, she met his gaze, and she silenced Mother.

"Namikaze Naru." The girl replied, "I already told you this, Gaara-san." Her azure eyes soft and kind, but also hard at the same time. Such strange eyes... Gaara mused.

"You are able to keep Mother silent." A delicate red brow lifted,

"The biju, am I correct?" Gaara nodded, "Is it perhaps that the Kyuubi keeps yours silent. Ichibi, if I recall."

"How does it not affect you?"

"Hmm... It's likely I have a better seal." Naru replied, "My father based the seal upon my mother's, which had withheld the Kyuubi for two generations of jinchuuriki." She looked him in the eye, "Even I can tell your seal is faulty, and I am only a beginner in the art of fuinjutsu."

"It is... faulty?"

"Mhm... This probably leads to issues sleeping and silencing the biju if I remember properly." She paused, "If you want, I could speak with my father about looking at your seal."

"You would do that? For someone you just met?" Gaara asked suspiciously. Naru offered him a small smile,

"We jinchuuriki have to stick together." She told him, "Besides, I like you." The Suna boy blushed as her smile widened, she held out a dainty looking hand "Let's be friends, Gaara-kun." His face burning, Gaara reached out his hand and she intertwined their fingers.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – In the Forest of Death**

**Ages: Naru-12 Gaara-12**

**Arc: Chunin Exams**

**Inspiration****: Road to You by Five for Fighting/Waiting for Superman by Daughtry**

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><p>Gaara leapt for branch to branch as he made his way through the Forest of Death his siblings slightly behind him, but he wasn't paying attention his mind was on Namikaze Naru.<p>

With her smooth, pale skin, her long, beautiful red hair that framed a heart shaped face and baby blue eyes, her small and slim figure... Her kind smile and musical laugh... He couldn't stop thinking of her. It was odd and unnerving, but at the same time warm and wonderful.

The 12-year-old glanced at the foliage surrounding him feeling almost at peace. Ever since meeting the odd Konoha kunoichi and her father putting a temporary seal over Shukaku's, the boy had been much more relaxed. He hadn't informed his sensei or siblings about what had happened between he and Naru, slightly fearful of what would happen to her during the upcoming invasion.

His thoughts were cut off when he felt a flare of familiar chakra towards his right and he stopped, turning his head towards it.

"Naru..." He muttered quietly to himself, an odd feeling in his chest at the thought of the kind red-haired girl being injured. Without another moment of hesitation, the Ichibi's jinchuuriki took off, ignoring his sister's call of; 'Gaara!'.

When he arrived, Gaara felt fury. Naru's face was bruised and bloody, one eye swollen shut, and her once thigh-length red hair was cut choppily just above her shoulders. The girl was obviously trying to keep the weight off her left leg as she stood; her kunai in a reverse grip. She seemed to be protecting something behind her, refusing to back down as she stood in front of three Oto ninjas. With a snarl Gaara leapt from the trees in a blur, he landed in front of Naru while blocking the kunai thrown towards her with his sand

"Gaara-kun!?" Naru exclaimed in surprise. He looked her up and down, then behind her to see her two teammates unconscious, plus a strange looking boy with a bowl cut in a green jumpsuit laying face-down on the ground.

"Naru... Who did this to you?" He asked quietly as he dropped the sand shield, staring coldly at the Oto genin. The one with spiky hair smiled arrogantly,

"We did, and what are you going to do about it?"

"Zaku!" The one covered in bandages exclaimed, "Don't you realize who that is?!" He hissed. 'Zaku' snorted,

"I don't care!" He exclaimed before moving forward, only to realize he couldn't. Eyes widening he looked at his arms, which were connected to the ground covered in sand.

"I don't think you'll need those arms anymore." Gaara snarled, and with a simply clench of his fist, Zaku's arms were crushed. Zaku screamed before slumping and going silent.

"Zaku!" The girl cried out looking from her teammate and then glaring at Gaara, "You bastard!" She raced forward, ignoring the bandaged boy's cry of: 'Kin! Wait!' and with a simple flick of his wrist Kin was sent flying into a tree where she slid down unconscious. Gaara turned his green-blue gaze to the last member of the team and brought his hand up, encasing the boy in a tomb of sand. As he moved to clench his fist, a hand reached out and grabbed his in a light grip.

"Gaara..." He looked beside him to see Naru staring at him with large blue eyes, "You don't have to kill him." She said softly, "Just let him go, 'kay?" She offered him a kind smile. Gaara felt like a child being scolded as he withdrew the sand before turning to glare at the Oto genin,

"Leave your scroll, take your team, and leave." He ordered coldly, the Oto nin put his hands up in surrender as he toss the red-head the scroll before turning and hefting his teammates onto his shoulders. When they were gone, Gaara looked up into the trees and glared at two Konoha genin who were crouched on a thick branch staring down at them.

"We're only here for our teammate." The boy with long brown hair and pale eyes said, gesturing towards the green person on the ground, the brown haired girl leapt from the tree and landed beside her teammate, hefting him to his feet.

"Thank you, Lee-san." Naru said quietly, Lee shot her a dizzy grin and a thumbs-up before being dragged away by his teammates. Gaara watched them go before turning to Naru as she slid to the ground and he kneeled down beside her.

"Are you alright, Naru?" He asked quietly, staring into her eyes. The girl shot him a small smile,

"I'll be fine. In an hour all the wounds will be gone." Her smile vanished as she looked behind her towards her two teammates, "It's Sasuke-san and Kyo-kun I'm worried about. They were injured when we were attack by Orochimaru..." She murmured. Gaara reached over and took a strand of her now shortened hair,

"You're hair..." He muttered, eyes softening. Naru looked sheepish,

"It doesn't look bad, does it?" She asked self-consciously, Gaara shook his head,

"It looks fine." He told her. Naru smiled before looking at the trees as Kankuro and Temari leapt into the clearing.

"Temari, Kankuro." Gaara said simply as he stood, helping Naru stand in the process, "Aid her teammates." He ordered.

"Eh?" Kankuro started, looking from the two Konoha boys to his younger brother.

"Do it." Without another word the two older siblings glanced at each other before grabbing a boy each. Temari shrugged Sasuke onto her back as Kankuro did the same with Kyo. They walked towards Gaara, who was standing on a floating platform of sand. The youngest gestured to the two other platforms, and after stepping onto them they floated off the ground and above the forest heading towards the tower in the middle of the forest. Gaara and Naru weren't far behind.

"Thank you, Gaara-kun." Naru said quietly offering a small smile before dozing off, her head resting on his shoulder.

Gaara smiled.

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><p><em><strong>I realized that Gaara was kind of OOC, so I did a little bit of editing. Hope this is a littler more like him :)<strong>_

_**~Natsu**_


	3. AN

_**Alrighty~**_

_**I just thought I should do some clarifying about this story.**_

_**_**It's a group of short one-shots (some might end up being longer than others) in no particular order about (as you've probably guessed)Naru and Gaara.**_**_

_**_**The original story "Naru: Konoha's Crimson Flash" was not working for me so I've made this one. But if anyone wants to take it over that's fine with me, just ask.**_**_

_**I AM TAKING REQUESTS!**_

_**If you have anything you want me to write, just ask and I'll try to do it.**_

_**If you have an idea please be as specific as possible.**_

_**I have a couple of ideas for up coming chapters, literally written out in a document but for some reason I'm unable to put it into details so I could use some requests to give me a kick into gear.**_

_**I have no idea when I'll be posting next.**_

_**Exams are starting soon, followed by a new semester so it's been pretty hectic.**_

_**I also just healed from a concussion and I am back to playing Ringette, which is making me even busier.**_

_**~Natsu**_


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